Highlights

After sitting on the bench in Euro qualifying for Germany over the recent international break, Marc-André ter Stegen expressed frustration in being stuck behind Bayern Munich’s Manuel Neuer in the pecking order to be Germany’s No. 1. After watching Ter Stegen vs Dortmund in the Champions League on Tuesday, it’s hard to argue he shouldn’t usurp Neuer.

Ter Stegen made four saves, including one on a penalty kick and a massive double save to help Barcelona draw Borussia Dortmund 0-0 in the Champions League group-stage opener for both clubs on Tuesday in Dortmund. 

Despite missing three games while on World Cup duty with Australia — where she finished with five goals in four games — the Chicago Red Stars’ Sam Kerr is just one goal shy of the NWSL’s single season goalscoring record. Kerr scored against Sky Blue yesterday to bring her total to 16; the record is the 17 she scored as a member of Sky Blue back in 2017. Time is a flat circle.

It’s been an eventful week for building from the back. It began with Mexico’s beatdown of Gregg Berhalter’s longterm vision for the USMNT in East Rutherford, a result which led to a cry for abandoning the philosophy.

Things reached a crescendo yesterday with Arsenal — the masterful architects of their own downfall in recent times. Sokratis Papastathopoulos showed exactly why 2-0 is the most dangerous lead in football by passing the ball straight to Gerard Deulofeu in his own area.   

It was awfully late on a Sunday night, but hopefully you didn’t check out of last night’s LA Galaxy vs. Sporting KC match on FS1 at halftime. At that point, the score was level at 1-1. After an exchange of seven second half goals, it would finish 7-2 in favor of the Galaxy.

Zlatan Ibrahimović registered his third hat-trick for Los Angeles, and in the process, he set a new single season Galaxy record by bringing his total on the year to 26, surpassing a Carlos “El Pescadito” Ruiz record that had stood since 2002. 

Whatever you do, don’t show this to Joe Buck. Yesterday, Guadalajara registered a 1-0 victory over Atlas at Estadio Akron thanks to a 63rd-minute crack from Alexis Vega, who then exposed his crack. The 21-year-old Mexican boofed one from over 25 yards out to keep Chivas in the thick of the liguilla race, and then he fought off a strong desire to strip nude before settling for half-naked.

If I asked you to name the current leading scorer in Euro 2020 qualifying, who would you go with? Harry Kane? Cristiano Ronaldo? Kane is joint-second with six goals and Ronaldo has five to his name, so those aren’t bad guesses, but it's actually Israel’s Eran Zahavi. 

The 32-year-old Zahavi isn’t exactly a household name — at least outside of Israel and China. The only time he's spent playing outside those two countries was a brief spell with Palermo, where he scored only two goals in 23 Serie A appearances. 

Despite his age, Ansu Fati doesn’t need any time to adjust to the highest level.

A 16-year-old forward, Fati became Barcelona’s youngest-ever goal scorer a couple weeks ago. He received his first start at home against Valencia on Saturday and took no time proving he belongs on one of the best teams in the world.

Fati scored in the second minute and added an assist five minutes later in a mindboggling opening to his first career start.

For the world’s 130th-ranked side, the sight of Cristiano Ronaldo “Ronaldo Chopping” and “SIUUUU-ING” his way around a 5,000-seat stadium was simply too much to bear. So Lithuania decided to stand off and give him 57 touches, seven shots and four goals in exchange for a substitution in the 79th minute of a 5-1 loss to Portugal. That’s a good trade.

The evidence for Belgium and Manchester City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne being the finest passer of the ball on the planet is mounting. He’s opened his Premier League campaign with an assist in four straight matches — including two against Tottenham — while becoming the quickest player in EPL history to reach the milestone of 50 career dimes; it took him 18 fewer appearances than Mesut Özil.

Today, the Belgian recorded a hat trick of assists against Scotland in Euro 2020 qualifying, and it only took the 28-year-old 32 minutes to accomplish the feat in Glasgow.